The Vacant Throne: The Legend Of Kairu Vol 3 (14 page)

“
Thank you,” Cathy
replied with curiosity in her voice.

“
Someone will be up
to gather and repair your armour shortly,” the servant
continued.

“
That would be
great,” Cathy said. “A change of clothes for my friend as
well.”

“
As my Lady
commands,” the servant said.

The food had my complete attention as I
awkwardly grabbed for anything within my reach. After the servants
left, Cathy returned to the table and sat down beside me. “What did
he give you?” I asked.

“
A letter,” she
answered, handing me a folded piece of paper.

I wiped my hands on my trousers and
took the letter. Cathy searched the envelope while I read:

Dear Sandra,

I need your help. There is an important
matter to discuss.

Please meet me at The Sewer Rats at
midnight.

Be careful,

Lord Peter Cook of Malkia

“
Nothing is easy, you
say,” Cathy smiled, holding up the key to my shackles.

Chapter
12

I watched the courtyard from my window
and counted the two patrolling guardsmen again. The moon was high
in the sky and illuminated the land. This made it easy to plan our
escape but much harder to execute it. My Illusion skills were going
to be tested and a small part of me welcomed the challenge.

The guest room I had
been imprisoned in was hardly something to get upset about. It was
in no way comparable to Lady Middleton’s room, but it was still
nicer than any room in the Tower; including the Masters’ personal
bedrooms. The bed was draped with fancy silk sheets, I could run
back and forth in the room and receive a decent workout and the
windows were large enough to crawl through. We must have been crazy
to try and escape the castle, but duty always calls.

After dinner, before I was escorted out
of Lady Middleton’s room, Cathy handed me the key to my shackles
and I slipped it into my pocket. Our plan was for me to break out
and make it to Cathy so we could slip out the front door together
under my Illusion spell. A simple yet risky plan, but we didn’t
know of any other exits and now wasn’t the time for a scouting
mission.

I fished the key out
of my pocket and freed myself from the damned shackles. I tossed
them onto the bed and wiped the honey off with some water from a
pitcher and dried my hands on the sheets. After taking a moment to
enjoy a much anticipated wrist scratch, I tested my magic by
levitating a few items. I was shaky at first, but soon lifted
everything with ease.

I approached the door slowly and
stretched out with my mind. I was bombarded with the energy of a
hundred minds and focused on those closest to me; something that
was easier to do with the honey off of me. When I had tried
earlier, the itching and sapped feeling made it too hard to focus
on searching or casting Illusions.

There was a guard
patrolling the hallway to my room and a couple at the end of the
hall to the stairs. I was one level up from the main floor and
Cathy was up one further. I had been worried that they would stick
us at opposite ends of the castle, but they had made it easy for us
this time.

I waited for the patrolling guard to
have his back to my door before opening it slowly. I reached out
with my mind and slipped into his easily. I tricked his mind so it
would ignore me, wherever I moved. I repeated the process for the
two guards at the end of the hall and slipped into the hallway and
shut the door carefully.

Despite them ignoring
me, I still had to move quietly. The trick only worked for sight.
If I were to make too much noise or bump into one of them, the
whole Illusion would collapse. One unfortunate incident also taught
me that I should be careful not to be too fragrant as people will
still be able to detect me, or as in the case of my stinky friend,
with one sniff.

Walking slowly and keeping my armpits
covered, I slipped past the guards and worked my way slowly up the
stairs searching for more minds. Two more guards covered the exit
from the stairway and I planted the Illusion in them, removing it
from the other guards.

Just like on the previous floor, there
was a guard patrolling the hallway. I waited for his back to be
turned before slipping through. As I drew closer, I planted the
Illusion spell in his mind and approached Cathy’s door. I slid a
scrap of parchment under her door as the signal and turned back to
the guards. I adjusted my Illusion spell so they would ignore Cathy
too as she slowly opened the door.

I turned to her and
noticed she was still in her dress from dinner. It was a smart move
for getting out of the castle, but it meant she would be
unprotected and unarmed. Depending on what Lord Cook had in mind
for us, we could be screwed later on.

She smiled at me in relief and closed
the door carefully behind her. The guards continued about their
business as I led Cathy down the hall, then slowly down the stairs,
dropping the spell from the previous guards as I planted it in the
next ones.

At the main floor I
made sure the Illusion spell was secure in the staircase guards
before peeking out. The floor curved around to the main hall where
it split into a junction with corridors leading to the front door
and throne room. I picked up two patrolling guards, another two
stationary at a staircase on the opposite side of the building and
two more protecting the front door from the outside. Tie that in
with the two patrolling the courtyard outside and it was pretty
easy to determine Lord Michaels’ favourite number.

I waited for the patrolling guard to
turn around before planting the Illusion and slowly walking out
into the hallway. I followed the guard to the main hall, searching
for the other patrol. When he came into focus in my mind, I planted
the spell and checked to see if I would have to trick the other two
guards by the staircase. They were far enough away to not be able
to see the front door.

Cathy and I let the patrolling guards
head back down their respective hallways before crossing to the
front door. The two guards I had tricked at the first staircase
were out of range now and my Illusion was dropped. I focused the
freed energy on the guards outside.

We waited for the patrolling guards to
come back to the main hall and leave again before I planted the
spell on the four guards outside and opened the door. The door was
heavy and required both of us to push it open slowly so it wouldn’t
squeak. When it was open enough, we slipped through and shut the
door. The guards continued to stare ahead like nothing was
wrong.

I released the spell
on the two inside guards and did a quick check to make sure there
weren’t any guards in the watchtowers. I found one not facing the
courtyard, but put the spell on him just in case.

Cathy and I crept out through the
courtyard and down the Stairway of Kings. When we were out of sight
of the castle I dropped the spell and my head immediately felt
heavy. I grabbed it with one hand and chuckled softly. “I’m getting
better,” I whispered to Cathy. “It wasn’t until after we got out
that it affected me.”

“
I understand your
desire to dance in front of people when doing that now,” Cathy
smiled. “It’s so weird to just walk in front of people and be
completely ignored.”

I laughed softly. “Maybe next time I’ll
let you dance then.”

“
Only if you dance
with me,” she smirked.

“
Deal,” I said,
matching her smile.

At the bottom of the stairs, the market
was deathly quiet. The merchants and guards that were serving
supplies had packed up for the night and the citizens had moved on
to whatever shelter they could find. It didn’t stop the market from
giving off very creepy vibes.

Cathy pushed on
through and I followed her from behind. The feeling that we were
being watched made me wary. If it was just hungry civilians, that
wouldn’t be a problem, but I had a feeling that the devastation
gave rise to more aggressive gang activities.

“
Can you feel it?” I
whispered to Cathy.

“
What?” she
asked.

“
Us being watched,” I
answered.

“
We’ll be fine,” she
assured me. “I have some hand to hand training and you are good
with your hands too.” Her eyes widened and she looked a little
embarrassed. “When they’re covered in ice,” she added
quickly.

I chuckled, unsure
what that whole scene was, and followed her out of the market
towards the residential districts. We had only been to The Sewer
Rats once, but Cathy moved as if she had walked the way a thousand
times. I was completely lost as every landmark had suffered from
the attack.

The sounds of laughter and gruff
conversation slowly rose over the quiet night. When The Sewer Rats
came into view it was hard to tell if it had been damaged or it had
always looked like that. Either way, it didn’t prevent it being
open for business.

Looking at Cathy’s
dress I realised it was a worse idea than we had previously
thought. The colours, the way it clung to her body, how it brought
out the colour of her eyes, it was too much. She would stand out in
any crowd no matter how good it looked on her… and she was looking
mighty good.

Cathy turned to face me and I looked up
at her face quickly. I chuckled awkwardly. “What’s up?” I
asked.

She laughed and looked straight ahead
again, moving faster to get to the door first. She pushed her way
through and I followed sheepishly behind her.

The patrons of the bar turned in our
direction briefly before returning to their mugs. Even a brightly
dressed woman couldn’t keep their attention. These were dark times
indeed.

Cathy strolled
confidently in the direction of the seating areas. It had taken me
a moment to realise that she had recognised Ser Cook, dressed in
his plate mail, sitting nervously at a table in the
corner.

This threw up red
flags for me immediately. Why would the Lord need to send his
heavily armoured, more able-bodied son? I immediately started
scanning the minds of the patrons as we sat down at the
table.

“
Thank you for
coming,” Ser Cook said.

“
I was expecting your
father,” Cathy replied.

Ser Cook scanned the
bar. “He would have liked to come, but there is a bit of a
problem.”

“
Judging by his
letter, there might be more than one,” Cathy pointed
out.

“
Indeed, my Lady, you
have been gone a long time,” Ser Cook started. “Lord Michaels is
going to usurp the throne. He has always been power hungry and with
no royal family, he is doing everything he can to take control. As
you already know, my Lady, the Lords would just vote on the next
royal family and Lord Michaels would be campaigning for himself,
but my father had discovered that Lord Michaels is blackmailing
Lord Kent to secure the majority vote.”

“
And then I show up
and ruin the vote count,” Cathy said thoughtfully.

I diverted my full attention to this
conversation. The thoughts of drunks were nothing but the usual and
if there was danger nearby, we needed all the information Ser Cook
could give us as quickly as possible.

“
Exactly,” Ser Cook
said. “My father hired an expert to poke around in Lord Michaels’
affairs and before he was arrested, my father received the gravest
of news. A member of the royal family is still alive and Lord
Michaels plans to assassinate him.”

“
Who survived?” I
asked.

“
Markus Paul, the
king’s nephew,” Ser Cook answered and turned to Cathy. “Do you
remember him, my Lady?”

“
Yes, but it has been
a long time,” she lied smoothly.

“
He’s a squire under
Ser Scott now,” Ser Cook answered. “Only 16 cycles old and the king
in waiting.” He shook his head, “And what a mess to start off
in.”

“
Where is he?” I
asked.

“
If we knew, we would
already have him under protection,” Ser Cook answered, watching the
door. “We have company.”

I turned my head to
the door. Four men in bright yellow with masks as black as night
stood at the entrance scanning the bar. I scanned their minds and
confirmed my suspicion. They were hunting for us.

“
The Yellow Jackets,”
Ser Cook answered our unasked question. “A ruthless group of
mercenaries we suspect are on Lord Michaels’ payroll.”

The mercenaries spotted us and drew
their swords. Panic erupted as the bar patrons rose to their feet
to get out of the way. The chaos prevented the mercenaries from
crossing the bar too quickly.

Ser Cook was already out of his seat.
“I’ve secured us passage out the back. Quickly.”

Cathy and I jumped out of our seats and
followed Ser Cook behind the bar. The bartender motioned to the
door to the kitchen and we hurried through the building and out the
back. A mercenary was waiting for us and whistled loudly as we
emerged from the building. Ser Cook charged and delivered a great
left hook that left the merc spinning like a top before dropping to
the ground.

Shouts filled the night from every
direction and Cathy scooped up the merc’s shield and sword. She
used the sword to cut the side of her dress so her legs had more
room for running. “Thankfully I skipped the corset this time,” she
joked, breaking into a run behind Ser Cook.